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Avoid first-time homebuyer fatigue (and the costly mistakes it can generate)

By Zak Stoiber

May 2024

In a real estate market where demand outpaces the supply of houses for sale, buying a home can be a marathon, not a sprint. Unless you’re lucky enough to find a house in your budget right away and have your first offer accepted, you’re likely to experience buyer’s fatigue. You might let frustration dictate key decisions or quit the process altogether. Heed my warning and avoid the mistakes below that are common to fatigued homebuyers.

Mistake #1: Not getting preapproved

One of the best ways to prevent homebuying fatigue is to set yourself up for success from the start by getting preapproved. Learn more here, but the primary benefits of preapproval are twofold:

  1. Your offers will be more competitive with the backing of a lending institution – the seller won’t have to risk selling to someone who hasn’t started the process of securing their mortgage
  2. You’ll have a firm grasp of the upper limit of your spending budget based on the loan amount the bank preapproved

If you skip the preapproval process and wait until you find the “perfect” home to see if you qualify for a loan, you could lose out to buyers who are already preapproved and come across as more of a sure thing.

ENERGIZING TIP: After you’ve been preapproved, you can use our home affordability calculators to get an idea of how much house you can afford based on down payment, monthly mortgage, and other factors. Then, you should set a realistic range for your purchase price, including a target price and the absolute maximum that you’re willing to pay. Doing this up front will save you the mental bandwidth of looking at homes that are out of your price range.

Mistake #2: Treating the homebuying process like the rental process

If you’re a first-time homebuyer, you’ve probably rented before. I lived in several apartments before buying my home, and let me tell you – the differences between the rental process and the homebuying process are like the differences between watching and reading Game of Thrones. They’re both complex, but one will take way less time and involve infinitely less paper(work).

According to a study from 2021, the average first-time homebuyer toured 15 properties, with one-third touring over 20 properties. 98% of respondents did not have their first offer accepted, with a majority receiving at least 5 rejections before having an offer accepted. For a quarter of first-time homebuyers, it took 10 or more offers to successfully buy their home.

Unlike renting, the median length of time someone stays in their home is 12 years. Friends didn’t even air for that many years! The process may be a long one, but you’ll also enjoy the payoff for years to come. You may want to use a tool like our home comparison chart to keep track of the features of the houses you tour during your journey.

ENERGIZING TIP: Maximize your chance of winning an offer by getting creative with partial contingencies, escalator clauses, flexible closing dates, and more.

 

Mistake #3: Only using public listing tools

When I bought my house 3 years ago, I assumed that obsessively monitoring public listing websites like Zillow and Realtor.com for new listings was the best way to stay on top of the market. But a strange thing kept happening. I would immediately call the listing agent after discovering a newly listed home that met my criteria. At this point, I would find out that the home had already received several offers or had stopped accepting new offers. 

How could there be so many offers on a home that was listed on Zillow the same day I called!? Turns out, real estate agents have access to a database that shows homes before they’re listed. They include all the details you can find on those public listing sites and more, plus the date the house will officially go on the market, which you can use to your advantage.

When I found the house I ended up buying, I scheduled a showing before the home was even listed on Zillow and Realtor.com. Then, I was able to put an offer in immediately with the help of my real estate agent. Public real estate websites are great, but don’t mistake them for the professional guidance and tools you can get from working with a licensed real estate agent.

ENERGIZING TIP: Mortgage terms are confusing. Learn some commonly confusing terms so you don’t have to switch tabs to google something every 5 minutes.

 

Mistake #4: Not working with a real estate agent

As noted above, working with a real estate agent may gain you access to tools immediately, but the true value will come throughout the process. When you finally tour your dream home that fits your needs, what will your offer look like? What would be a “competitive” offer? Do you know much about the neighborhood? Should you waive contingencies? These are tough decisions even with the help of a real estate agent, but having a knowledgeable professional who can offer guidance and feedback will go a long way toward securing your first home.

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Zak

Read more articles by Zak
Zak Stoiber is a digital marketing program specialist at MGIC who enjoys reading books, some of which do not contain pictures. He recently became a homeowner mostly to house his board game collection.
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